We are a grass roots organization located in both Israel and the United States. Our intention is to be pro-active on behalf of Israel. This means we will identify the topics that need examination, analysis and promotion. Our intention is to write accurately what is going on here in Israel rather than react to the anti-Israel media pieces that comprise most of today's media outlets.

Friday, June 13, 2014

ISIS spokesman blames Zawahiri for infighting in Syria

The spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS),
Abu Muhammad al Adnani, has released an audio message blaming al Qaeda
emir Ayman al Zawahiri for the jihadists' infighting in Syria. The ISIS
was formally disowned by al Qaeda's general command in February.
Adnani's new message is a response to Zawahiri, who had again called for reconciliation
in an address earlier this month. Adnani rejects the overture,
including Zawahiri's demands that the ISIS leave the battlefields of
Syria and submit itself to a common sharia (Islamic law) court capable
of settling its differences with other factions.
The ISIS' animosity for Abu Muhammad al Julani, who heads the Al
Nusrah Front, is apparent throughout the message. Al Nusrah is al
Qaeda's official branch in Syria. Adnani refers to Julani as a traitor
and Al Nusrah's members as "thieves and traitors."
Prior to the revolution in Syria, Julani served as a lieutenant to
Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the head of the ISIS. In April 2013, however,
Julani refused an order from Baghdadi
to fold Al Nusrah's operations under the banner of the then
newly-expanded ISIS, which had previously concentrated its efforts in
Iraq. Julani instead reaffirmed his allegiance directly to Zawahiri. The
bitter feud has not subsided in the year since.
Adnani's message begins with citations to several al Qaeda leaders:
Osama bin Laden, Abu Yahya al Libi (a top al Qaeda leader killed in
2012), Sulaiman Abu Ghaith (bin Laden's former spokesman, who is now
imprisoned in the US), and Abu Musab al Zarqawi (the deceased leader of
al Qaeda in Iraq). Adnani uses the testimony of these four senior
jihadists to undermine the legitimacy of the governments ruling in Iraq,
Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, saying they are not proper Islamic states. In
the process, Adnani tries to portray the ISIS as the only entity ruling
according to sharia, as al Qaeda's leaders have consistently advocated.Oath of allegiance a key issue in dispute
A key issue in the dispute is the ISIS' former place within the al
Qaeda hierarchy. Some within the ISIS and its supporters have claimed
that the group did not really swear a full oath of allegiance to al
Qaeda's emirs, but instead only pledged its support for al Qaeda.
Earlier this month, Zawahiri addressed this claim in his own message,
saying that the ISIS' predecessors were loyal to bin Laden and al
Qaeda's leadership, and that the ISIS repeatedly addressed him as their
emir.
The ISIS spokesman struggles to explain why his group was not a
formal branch of al Qaeda before the dispute over Syria broke out.
Adnani says that al Qaeda as it supposedly existed prior to the dispute
"runs in our blood" and "has become rooted in our hearts." Adnani adds
that he and his comrades "revered" and "glorified" al Qaeda "to the
extent that we have not obeyed leaderships other than this leadership."
Adnani even mentions one of the same missives Zawahiri introduced as
evidence of the ISIS' former loyalty -- a message to al Qaeda's general
command from Abu Hamza al Muhajir, a Zawahiri loyalist who was a senior
figure in the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) before being killed in 2010.
"In this message, the ISIS emphasized 'its loyalty to the figures of the
ummah as manifested in al Qaeda'," Adnani says, according to a
translation obtained by The Long War Journal.
Adnani further explains that, in al Muhajir's message, the ISIS told
al Qaeda: "You have the final say in leading jihad in the world.
Although your organization has been dissolved in the ISIS land, you
still have the final say in order to maintain the unanimous decision of
the mujahideen and close their ranks." (Al Muhajir's group had not yet
expanded into Syria, so Adnani's reference to it as the ISIS is
anachronistic. It was the Islamic State of Iraq at the time.)
Adnani concedes that the ISIS' "emirs used to address al Qaeda as
soldiers address their emirs, students address their mentor sheikhs, and
juniors address their seniors." And he even admits that the ISIS has
refrained from targeting the Shiite nation of Iran, because the ISIS was
"acting upon the orders of al Qaeda to safeguard its interests and
supply lines in Iran."
"Let history record that Iran owes al Qaeda invaluably," Adnani bristles.
The ISIS also has not operated inside Saudi Arabia or interfered in
Egypt, Libya or Tunisia, so as to not "disobey the figures and leaders
of jihad" in al Qaeda.
After saying that the ISIS has obeyed al Qaeda's directives in all of
these ways, Adnani argues that the ISIS has not refrained from
targeting Shiite civilians in Iraq, as repeatedly directed by Zawahiri.
Adnani says the ISIS would have complied with this order if Zawahiri was
its emir. But then Adnani immediately concedes, "We complied with your
request not to target [the Shiites] outside Iraq, in Iran and
elsewhere."
Still, Adnani insists that the ISIS was not under al Qaeda's command.
He asks what assistance, financial or otherwise, al Qaeda has provided
the organization, implying that the answer is none. Adnani claims that
al Qaeda did not oversee the ISIS' operations. And Adnani argues that
Zawahiri did not speak to the ISIS as an emir would until the
disagreements in Syria erupted.Demand for jihad throughout North Africa and Middle East
To quell the infighting, Adnani says, Zawahiri must "refute the
allegiance" the Al Nusrah Front's Abu Muhammad al Julani has offered
him. Zawahiri must declare all Shiites "infidels," according to Adnani,
and he also has to declare the ruling regimes in several countries to be
apostates.
Adnani's argument is curious because Zawahiri has repeatedly
condemned the governments in at least some of the countries the ISIS
spokesman mentions, including Egypt. The ISIS, however, does not like al
Qaeda's calibrated approach to the post-Arab Spring world, in which al
Qaeda sometimes uses tactics other than violence, including
proselytization, to spread its ideology. Accordingly, Adnani wants al
Qaeda to declare an open jihad in virtually every country throughout
North Africa and the Middle East.
In the end, Adnani appeals to the other branches, or so called
"affiliates," of al Qaeda. He requests "an official statement from all
the branches of al Qaeda in all the regions stating their clear stances"
concerning ISIS and its approach to waging jihad.

Caroline Glick & Mark Levin: The Israeli Solution -- A One-State Pla

Why Israel Opposes International Forces in the Jordan Valley

U.S. scholars' group votes in favor of academic boycott of Israel

Yet another indication of the absolute corruption of American academia today. "US scholars' group votes in favor of academic boycott of Israel," from the Jerusalem Post, December 16: NEW YORK – The 5,000-member American Studies Association (ASA), which describes itself as “the nation’s oldest and largest association devoted to...http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/12/us-scholars-group-votes-in-favor-of-academic-boycott-of-israel.html

Israel Living Prophecy

A senior New Israel Fund officer told a U.S. official in 2010 that the disappearance of the Jewish state would not be a tragedy, according to a document that was leaked by Wikileaks...She commented that she believed that in 100 years Israel would be majority Arab and that the disappearance of a Jewish state would not be the tragedy that Israelis fear since it would become more democratic.

Mideast expert Michael Widlanski: Fatah is a joke

US-Israeli talks focus on Ahmadinejad's possible ouster

How to exploit the deep cracks forming in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration for removing the Iranian president was a top item on the agenda of the high-level talks between Barack Obama's advisers and Israeli officials at Mossad headquarters in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, Wednesday, July 29.

DEBKAfile's Iranian sources report that Ahmadinejad's cabinet is falling apart; of his original lineup of 21 ministers, only nine remain at their posts.

The Identity Of The Land

Why the Palestinians need to recognize the Jewish State

We do NOT support a 2-state solution

A January 2009 poll found that Americans oppose creating a Palestinian state by 45-31 percent. A February 2009 Maagar Mohot Survey Institute poll has also shown that Israelis oppose creating a Palestinian state by 51-32 percent.

Many other polls tell a similar story.

These figures suggest that Americans and Israelis have understood that creating a Palestinian state under current conditions will not bring peace but merely another terror state.

Netanya,Israel

Jerusalem At Night

Why reconstruct Gaza without making demands

- that Shalit be release without convicted terrorists being released by Israel in exchange,

- that the US be put in charge of the southern border to ensure that Hamas isn’t rearmed?

- that their three preconditions be accepted by Hamas, i.e. agree to all former agreements,recognize Israel and renounce terror

- that Hamas amend their Charter

- That Hamas disconnect from Iran

The answer is that they don’t want to.

Children of Hamas

Picture of Hamas children the media does not show you

IDF: Civilian Deaths in Gaza Less than 25% of Total

A maximum of 25% of the Palestinians killed in Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli operation are innocent civilians, the head of the IDF's Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA), Col. Moshe Levi, said Wednesday. According to Palestinian medical officials, Israel has killed some 1,000 Palestinians and more than half of them are civilians. Levi said the CLA had compiled a list with the names of 900 Palestinians killed during the fighting. He said that 150 names were of women, children and elderly, and that the maximum number of civilians killed so far was 250. Levi also dismissed claims that 43 Palestinians were killed in an IDF attack on a Hamas terror cell that was firing mortars at Israeli forces from within an UNRWA school in Jabalya. Levi said 21 Palestinians were killed in the attack, including a number of Hamas operatives. (Jerusalem Post)

Hamas teaching the children of Gaza

An Iranian reformist daily newspaper has criticized Hamas "for risking lives of civilians, amongst them children, by hiding its forces in nurseries and hospitals." This is reported in today's Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam. The Palestinian daily adds that in response the Iranian government has closed the newspaper.

"The Iranian news agency "Irna" reported yesterday, that the Iranian Culture Ministry has closed the reformist daily newspaper "Karjo Zaran", because it published a report that included criticism of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). On December 30 the paper published a statement of a reformist student organization, that has criticized Hamas for risking lives of civilians, amongst them children, by hiding its forces in nurseries and hospitals. The statement was published whilst the Iranian government expresses a unified stands against Israel, and Tehran is overwhelmed by demonstrations against Israel."

[Al-Ayyam, Jan. 1, 2009] Thanks PMW

Iran-backed Hamas Rocket, Mortar Attacks and Nuclear Developments

9,400+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2003. [1]3,200+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza in 2008 alone. [2]6,500+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. [3]543+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israeli territory during the ceasefire from June 19 to Dec. 19, 2008. [4]28 deaths caused by rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israel since 2001. The dead include Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers. Since the ceasefire ended, Iran-backed Palestinian groups in Gaza fired rockets and mortars that killed an Israeli-Arab construction worker and a mother of four who was seeking shelter in a bus station as a rocket warning siren sounded. [5]1,000+ people in Israel injured from rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2001, including Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers. Since the ceasefire, 44 Israelis have been injured and 200 have been treated for shock. [6]Thanks Israel Project

It began with this...

The British Foreign Office, November 2nd, 1917Dear Lord Rothschild,I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.

“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate theachievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities inPalestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.2

Signed,Arthur James Balfour[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]

Favorite Books

While Europe Slept

About Me

Semi-retired Professor, now also permanent resident of Israel;divides time between both countries-serves on several Boards of Directors for Israel advocacy groups;Chana, resident of Jerusalem, JCPA member

Syria is an Occupier-Are You Listening World?

As of this minute, Syria occupies at least 177 square miles of Lebanese soil. That you are now reading about it for the first time is as much a scandal as the occupation itself.

The news comes by way of a fact-finding survey of the Lebanese-Syrian border just produced by the International Lebanese Committee for UN Security Council Resolution 1559, an American NGO that has consultative status with the UN. In meticulous detail - supplemented by photographs and satellite images - the authors describe precisely where and how Lebanon has been infiltrated.

Though the land grabs are small affairs individually, they collectively add up to an area amounting to about 4% of Lebanese soil - in U.S. terms, the proportional equivalent of Arizona. Of particular note is that the area of Syrian conquest dwarves that of the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms which amount to an area of about 12 square miles.

It would be nice to see the Arab world protest this case of illegal occupation, given its passions about the subject.

Information worth Possessing

"Israel gave the Palestinians an autonomy in 42% of the West Bank and Gaza after the Oslo accords in the early 90's. Over 92% of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza were then under the administration of the Palestinian Authority and its Chairman Yasser Arafat.

"Israel is surrounded by 10 hostile Arab countries who do not even recognize its right to exist ( Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Algeria, Lybia, Morocco, Tunisia, Aden) and Iran"